Barn Owl.

[keith mitchell]

Nikon D4
Nikon 399ml 2.8
1/125@f6.3
iso 2000

Had the pleasure of seeing a pair of Barn Owls rear 5 young ,this is one of them.
Removed oof leaf from the bg.

Thanks for looking.

[Binu John]

Beautiful shot, Keith! Love the Owl against the dark background! I would try to recover more feather details. TFS

[Mike Poole]

Don't see many barnie portraits of this quality Keith, he looks in fantastic condition. Is this a regular perch, or is there somewhere that could show the full bird?

[gail bisson]

What a wonderful opportunity you had with this family.
I wish we could see more of the owl and a nicer perch would be awesome. I do like the little indents/holes created by the talons in the perch.
I am seeing a fair bit of noise on the belly area.
Looking forward to more!
Gail

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Keith, I like the image and the black BKG makes for an excellent backdrop to separate the subject, however...

The facial disc looks a little hot with some detail lost in the whites
There is some colour noise appearing in the white of the chest/body
I would have serious cranked up the ISO to get a better SS
Not sure where the FP was, but you do have sharpness, especially in the talons
I would also lose the wood beam which is faint within the BKG of the black, (no deal breaker) and recrop to remove the highlight creeping in on the top trim.
Keith I think some simple adjustments will take this up a notch, happy if you need some help.

Great to see them doing well.

TFS
Steve

[keith mitchell]

Thanks for the comments and advice, it was interesting trying to get these images taking them at a typical Owl time of night with fast fading light. If I spot metered on the Owl itself that gave me a reasonable shutter speed, just trial and error really with not having the opportunity before to try to shoot a subject against a dark BG ,don't think I could have taken these shots with the cameras I have had before, that could be down to the lack of knowledge. Gail afraid this is the only place that I can get these birds but I do have some at the other side with some Ivey that breaks it up a bit. Mike I have some more showing these birds in a different pose, thanks Binu,Cheers Steve I am off to the sunshine state Florida on Thursday will be in touch.

Cheers Keith

[Steve Kaluski]

Steve I am off to the sunshine state Florida on Thursday will be in touch.

You lucky fellow, no need to crank up the ISO there, but remember to pack all essentials and electricals with your hand luggage for checking. I assume you have done your ESTA prior for the US?

Have a great trip, look forward to the images, hope some of the folk here can help you with locations.

[Marina Scarr]

Thrilled to see a barn owl portrait, Keith. Good advice given above reference details and noise. While I am all for natural perches, this is a barn owl after all, and I don't feel as though this perch detracts from the image at all.

Keith, feel free to e-mail me for some spots to shoot. There still remain a few good beach nesting colonies on the west coast of Florida.

[Steve Kaluski]

Marina, I think Keith has 'flown the nest' already based on his mail to me this morning sadly, but he may pick mail up later, however I am sure he would be grateful for any help you guys can share.

Keith, pegging back the Orange in the HSL (Hue) also makes a big difference.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Well done Keith lovely pose and detail. Fingers crossed after the first brood ours are sitting on a second clutch.

[David Newby]

Excellent image Keith. There is a bit of lost detail in the face and personally I would clone out the horizontal mark above the bird in the black.